MORE OF LUCKNOW AND SOMETHING OF BENARES
"I suppose you recall the events of the Mutiny well enough to understand
the situation here in 1857," said Lord Tremlyn the next morning when the
company had gathered in the parlor of the hotel. "But there was no massacre
here, as in Cawnpore, to impress the facts upon your memory, though many
brave men lost their lives in the defence of the place. There were only
seven hundred and fifty troops in the town; but Sir Henry Lawrence had done
the best he could to fortify the Residency, ill adapted as it was for
defensive works.
"An attempt was made to check the advance of the rebels eight miles from
the city; but it was a failure, with the small available force, and two
days later the enemy attacked the British at the Residency. Three times
the brave defenders beat back the assaults of the assailants. These events
on the spot you have visited occurred between the last of May and the first
of July. It was not till the twenty-second of September that Havelock and
Outram arrived, and captured the Alum-Bagh, which we shall visit this
morning. It was a terrible summer that the beleaguered people and their
brave handful of soldiers passed; and Tennyson has commemorated Lucknow in
his immortal verse.
"But the coming of Havelock was not the end; for the rebels besieged the
place again, and it was near the middle of November before Sir Colin
Campbell arrived, with a considerable force. He captured the Alum-Bagh,
and, leaving in it a force of three thousand five hundred men, he escorted
the women and children and the civilians to Cawnpore; but returned in March
to subdue the rebels. For a week he fought them, drove them from the
intrenchments in which they had fortified themselves, and the mutiny was
ended, as I related to you on board of your ship."
The carriages were at the door as soon as the party had breakfasted. They
were driven to the cemetery, where they saw the grave of Lawrence, whose
memorial is that "He tried to do his duty." In the Alum-Bagh, which means
the Queen's Garden, was the grave of Havelock. It was here that Outram had
his camp and fortifications for the defence of Lucknow during the absence
of Campbell.
The Kaiser Bagh, or Cæsar's Garden, contains some of the principal sights
of the city, which the viscount pointed out and described. It is a forest
of domes and cupolas; and the company halted at the pavilion of Lanka,
which a French writer called the least ridiculous of the structures in the
enclosure, though the professor insisted that it was quite as bad as the
worst. It had an abundance of cupolas with arabesque domes; but the edifice
looked like a shell, for the veranda, with lofty columns supporting the
roof, appeared to take up the greater portion of the enclosed space.
The most grotesque feature was at the entrance. A flight of broad stairs
led to the principal floor, over which was extended what looked like an
imitation of the Rialto bridge in Venice, with a small temple under the
middle arch and at the head of the stairs. The top of the bridge was on a
level with the flat roof, and the two side-arches started from the ground.
The building was handsome in some of its details; but the professor said it
was an "abomination," and Dr. Hawkes called it "queer." The various
edifices are now occupied by the civil and military officials.
"Where does the name of this place come from?" asked Captain Ringgold.
"Kaiser Bagh seems to be half German."
"But it is not German," replied Lord Tremlyn. "These buildings were mostly
erected no farther back than 1850, by Wajid Ali Shah, the King of Oude, who
was deposed by the British government in 1856. He called himself Cæsar, and
Kaiser is simply a corruption of that name, with no German allusion in it.
He was the husband of the Queen of Oude, whose burial-place you saw in
Père-la-Chaise."
The next visit was to the palace of Claude Martine, a conglomeration of all
the styles of architecture ever known, and some that were never heard of.
At first view it looks like a small palace set on the top of a large one.
It is certainly very original and very elaborate. Going to the citadel,
they entered by a highly ornamental gateway, which opened to the visitors
the view of the vast pile of buildings, in the middle of which is the
Imambara. The vastness of the pile presented before them was bewildering,
though they had seen so many immense structures that mere size did not now
overwhelm them. The Great Imambara is considered the marvel of Lucknow, and
should not be confounded with another in the citadel bearing the same
general name. To walk around or through this enormous building was simply
impossible, and the party contented themselves with a general view from
different points. It is located on a lofty terrace; and its long line of
walls, crowned with Arabic domes, is very imposing.
"This palace was erected at the close of the last century, by Nawab, with
half a yard of other names to fetch up its rear," said Major Shandon, the
military officer who was doing the honors of the city, with a pleasant
smile. "Like many others of the Indian monarchs, he desired to immortalize
his name by erecting a monument in his own honor; and he offered a prize
for the competition of all the architects of India, for one that would
surpass all others. We think he produced a plan that was worth the money he
received; though we don't think he surpassed the Taj, or some other
buildings that might be mentioned."
This immense structure is now a vast arsenal. The other building, which
sometimes robs this one of its honors, is called the Hoosseinabad Imambara;
and perhaps the length of the added name may account, to some extent, for
the robbery. It is in the citadel, and in sight of its namesake; but the
mausoleum, for it is the tomb of Ali Shah, who died in 1841, stands alone;
and it does not fatigue the eyes to look at it. It is a light, ethereal
sort of structure, and looks like lacework. It is surmounted by a beautiful
dome, and the roof bristles with the points of turrets and towers. It
contains, besides the tomb of the monarch, a mosque, a bazaar, and a model
of the Taj, which make up a sufficient variety for an edifice erected for a
tomb.
This temple completed the list marked out for inspection in Lucknow. The
party had not supposed there was much of anything here to be seen except
the memorials of the Mutiny; and for these alone they would not have missed
seeing the historic locality. The rest of the day was devoted to rides
through the streets and suburbs of the city. The avenues were wide, the
houses neat and commodious, and the gardens laid out with English taste.
The evidences of British thrift were to be seen in many portions of the
place.
Lochner's Hotel was their abiding-place, and Major Shandon regaled the
party at dinner and in the evening with stories of the place, and proved
himself to be a gentleman of "infinite humor." The next morning the company
took the train for Benares. They were a very sociable party, and preferred
the conference carriage to being confined to the smaller compartments. The
route was along the Boomtee River at first, which, some one has said, is
the crookedest stream in the world, and the scenery was worth looking at.
But as soon as the ladies and gentlemen had satisfied themselves with
looking out the windows the commander presented Sir Modava as the "talkist"
for the trip of six hours, or as much of the time as he chose to occupy.
"I shall not take more than half an hour for what I have to say, my
much-loved friends," the Hindu gentleman began, "though I know you are very
patient and long-suffering; and I assure you that I shall not take offence
if you look out the windows while I am talking. The Boomtee River is as
pretty as it is sinuous. If you write to your friends in the United States
about it, you can spell the last syllable t-i, if you prefer; for Indian
orthography is not yet controlled by statute, as I hope it will be when we
have established an _Académie Indienne_, such as they have in France.
But Benares is my subject, and not spelling.
"Where is Benares? It is four hundred and twenty miles by rail from
Calcutta, and is on the left bank of the Ganges. I suppose you know which
side that is."
"Of course we do," laughed Mrs. Belgrave. "It is on the left-hand side."
"You have put your foot in it, mother," rallied Louis.
"Into the Ganges?" queried the lady. "I did at Cawnpore, but not here."
"Suppose you were coming up the river in a steamer from Calcutta, which
would be the left bank?" asked Louis.
"On my left, of course."
"Then Sir Modava will have to oblige you by locating Benares on both sides
of the Ganges, and I don't believe it would be convenient for him to do
that," said Louis, laughing at the expense of his mother, who blushed,
though she did not see what was wrong, when she realized that she had made
a blunder of some kind.
"Better not have said anything," whispered Mrs. Blossom in retaliation; for
hitherto she had had a monopoly of all the blunders."
"Will you tell me, Sarah, which is the left bank of a river, for it appears
that I don't know," added the lady out loud.
"The left bank of the Ganges is the one Benares is on," replied the worthy
woman; and she was greeted with a roar of laughter, and a volley of
applause started by the live boys who were making their way across India.
"Quite right, madam!" exclaimed Sir Modava, applauding with the others. "It
may be a matter of no particular consequence; but you will excuse me for
saying that the left bank is the one on your left as you go down the
stream, and not at all as you go up."
"I remember now, for I learned that in my geography when I first went to
school; and it is strange that I should have forgotten it," added Mrs.
Belgrave.
"We know just where Benares is now," Sir Modava proceeded. "It is the
largest city in this part of India with the exception of Lucknow, to which
it stands next, or sixth among those of the country, having a population of
219,467. It extends along the Ganges for three miles; and the shore is
lined continuously with staircases, called _ghats_, which lead up to
the temples, palaces, and the vast number of houses on the banks of the
river. The stream sweeps around the place like a crescent, presenting one
of the finest views you ever saw, with the ornamented fronts of dwellings,
public offices, and a forest of towers, pinnacles, and turrets. To the
Hindus it is the most sacred city known to them.
"When I was a boy I came here for the first time, brought by my father on
account of the religious character of the place, if I may call anything
idolatrous by such a name. But the city, when you get into it, will
disappoint you. It is like Constantinople, very beautiful to look at from
the Bosporus, or the Golden Horn; but its dirty, narrow streets disgust
you. I am afraid this will be your experience in Benares. You will be
obliged to forego the luxury of carriages in making your tours through the
place, for the streets are so narrow and crowded that it is impossible to
get along with a vehicle. An elephant is equally impracticable, and even in
a palanquin your progress would be so slow that you would lose all your
stock of patience."
"The city must be 'done' by walking, must it?" asked the commander.
"Whew!" whistled Dr. Hawkes; and the sibilation was repeated by Uncle
Moses, for each of them weighed over two hundred and a quarter.
"If the ship were here I would lend you the barge with eight rowers, to
enable you to see the sights from the river," suggested Captain Ringgold.
"A steam-launch shall be provided for all the company, and our obese
friends shall be provided with stuffed chairs, for the survey of the river
scenes; but carriages can be used in some parts of the city, though what
you will desire to see can best be observed from the river; and we can land
when you wish to see interiors," added Lord Tremlyn.
This interruption was heartily applauded by the Cupids, as the fat
gentlemen had been called in Cairo, assisted by all the others.
"The famous Monkey Temple is just out of the city, and that can be reached
by carriages," continued Sir Modava. "There are fourteen hundred and fifty
Hindu temples, pagodas, and shrines, and two hundred and seventy-two
Mohammedan mosques, so that our good friend, General Noury, need not
neglect his devotions."
"The good Mussulman never does that, whether there be a mosque at hand or
not, for he says his prayers at the proper time, wherever he may be,"
replied the general.
"I know that some of your people are better Christians than some who bear
the name," replied the Hindu gentleman politely. "Benares is so holy, and
the Ganges is so holy, that hundreds of thousands visit it as the
Mussulmans visit Mecca. Men of wealth, and those who have the means without
being rich, come to this city when they feel that they have been seized
with a malady likely to prove fatal; for to die here with the Hindu is a
passport to eternal happiness. But I am talking too long, though there is
much more that might be said; but perhaps it could be better said on board
of that launch my friend mentions, and in sight of the temples, towers, and
other objects of interest."
In the middle of the afternoon the train arrived at its destination; and
the party proceeded in carriages to the western suburb, the location of the
cantonment, or English quarter of the city.